“You know, I don’t live in a vacuum. And so yes, I have heard it,” Northam told “CBS This Morning,” referring to calls for him to step down. “I have thought about resigning, but I’ve also thought about what Virginia needs right now. And I really think that I’m in a position where I can take Virginia to the next level.”

“Virginia also needs someone who is strong, who has empathy, who has courage and who has a moral compass. And that’s why I’m not going anywhere,” Northam added in a snippet of the interview released Sunday on “Face the Nation” and that will be aired in its entirety on Monday.

Asked if he though Fairfax should resign, Northam said: “that’s going to be a decision that he needs to make.”

“And if these accusations are determined to be true, I don’t think he’s going to have any other option but to resign,” he said.

Northam said he doesn’t know what Herring “was thinking, what his perception was of race, of the use of blackface back then.”

“But I can tell you that I am sure, just like me, he has grown. He has served Virginia well and he and I and Justin, all three of us have fought for equality,” Northam said, adding that the decision to step down would be Herring’s.